I do when I'm doing serious prep work. I don't actually do a lot of what most people consider "prep work" on a daily basis as most of my fruit and veggies comes out of a jar or freezer bag - but I do a ton of prep work during the harvest, and most of that I do sitting down as I'll be at it all day.

What I've noticed is I need to have the bucket/basket/containers lower down. If they are sitting on the work surface, it's hard on my arms after a while. So I put them within easy reach, but they are usually a bit lower than the work surface. If I'm using smaller containers, then it's OK to have them on the work surface, but lots of mine are 10 -15" tall.

I'm looking forward to getting my kitchen table and bench made. It's going to be more of an extra workspace than eat at table. The table is taller than standard, so I can stand to work at it, and the bench will also be taller so when sitting at it the table will be at a good working height.

I don't sit to slice and dice, but I frequently sit to rip lettuce and such. I don't know if you could have a counter low enough for slicing leverage that would allow your legs to fit under.

never.

I need to be on my feet, kind of like when I am
playing tennis, ready for the action.

But when we all get together at my big sister's my aunts,
my mother and younger sister will sit at the long counter
and chop or slice or dice for a big salad. I still stand,
unless I am sipping my wine and eating cheese.
~boxerpups

Hahhaa, I like you, Boxerpups! You sound like me - I play tennis and love my wine and cheese, esp big, bold cabs!!

In answer to your post, I never sit and prep. It would be too awkward since I would have to walk and carry everything from the kitchen to the morning room to sit and prep. Easier to stand at the kitchen counter.

thanks for replying!

macybaby... do you mean your kitchen table is higher than a standard table (30")? but is it still lower than a standard counter (36")? OT: are your doors on yet?

houseful... that's a really good point about fitting your legs under! that hadn't occurred to me.

Sometimes I do, but I have a huge kitchen table smack dab in the middle. You can't really get good leverage for cutting vegetables sitting though. I also have standard height counter tops and 32 inch counter tops. I'm 5'2" tall and standard 36" (I think)is a bit too high for me.

Never! I have too many things to do during prep and I move too fast.

Plus, sitting down puts my very sharp knives at an awkward angle for chopping. Proper knife hold requires you to be above the food you're working. I don't want to lose any fingers.

Now, if I was just shucking fava beans I might sit as it's a tedious process.

ironcook - I'm still painting the doors, but we got them all fitted, trimmed and sanded so we're making progress.

the table is going to be 33" tall, which matches the baking center it will go right next to. It's going to be made out of the old heart pine flooring we removed. That is all stored out in the barn.

like others have said, for cutting you need to about have the stuff in your lap. Sometimes its nice to have something you can just sort of lean back on (like a high stool) so you're not really sitting, but it takes some of the weight off your feet.

Now, if I was just shucking fava beans I might sit as it's a tedious process.

I sit to shuck. If you notice, all old kitchens had stools in them. More shucking was going on back then.

For fave, I prefer to lie down. At least after a while. Especially after I have shucked them, blanched them, skinned them, and realize that the bushel I originally bought is now barely enough to feed two people and a cat. Then I like to lie down for a very long time.

Anyway, plllog likes sitting for fiddly work. I assume that includes shucking.

My pull-out cutting boards are just a tad less than 2 inches lower than the countertop. I sit on a stool with knees under the designated board that's between one sink and the range. I can put containers of veg on another stool at the side if I need to lower the container of cut-able veg (or apples or ... ) and I can pull out the drawer at the side of the cutting board and dump in the compostable stuff into a receiving container without standing up. The trash is below this drawer so I can dump this stuff quickly also without standing.

I have leg, back, and foot issues now but I've done this kind of prep even before old age came a-prowling around.

For some kinds of work I sit at the range--jelly stirring for example. There's a table nearby also and more stools at peninsula. Everybody can sit if they want to.

Oh, but Marcolo..... if you take those fava beans and puree them into a yummy spread with ricotta, garlic and basil they are pure heaven! Schmear it over some garlic-rubbed, toasted bread and you'll never look back. And the beans stretch to feed more mouths. I can't wait for fava beans!!!

I sat down last night to peel potatoes and slice them for scallop potatoes. I had to stand up almost immediatlely.... it was as if I couldn't get into a rhyhm. Also I've noticed if I do sit the whole process goes slowly...

I only sit (at the table) if I have a lot of peeling to do at once - like for a big pot of applesauce, or a large amount of mashed potatoes, or something like that.

more thanks, all!

florantha... you were just the person i thought of because it seemed this would be the perfect use for one of the pull-out bread boards you've recommended.

the only place i have space for one is above the (future) single dishwasher drawer, which would have a steam/moisture issue. i wonder if a stainless one could be made.

Breezygirl, I am going to try that recipe!! Yum!

I stand, generally moving between fridge and sink. Also, I don't have anyplace to sit comfortably since island doesn't have an overhang.

I don't sit now except to do peas (unless I can borrow my husband's great uncle's pea sheller) because I like the bowl in my lap, but going by my grandmother, I may well be sitting for all prep work in another 15 years or so. I'll probably use the kitchen/dining table, as she did.

Becky, who sits to shuck but stands to schmear

becky... were you an English major? ;)

It's true! What Marcolo said. I like to sit for fiddly work. That would be things like trimming artichokes (always use tinsnips--best tool for the job). I suppose I would sit down to shuck peas if I had a bushel, but when I'm just putting a few into a pot full of other things I'll do it on the fly right over the pot. This week the only peas they had were pre-shucked! In a little bag. Maybe 20 peapods worth. Not as fun.

I have my grandmother's kitchen stool, and I could perch on it at the sink, but I don't usually. If I'm going to sit I want to sit in a comfortable chair at a table. Part of the reason I put table height seating in my kitchen, even though it was with a virtual shoehorn.

I sit to do most everything. I have found that carrying my chopping to the family room where I can sit with my feet up is the best, but it requires a tray and at least one, maybe two, bowls.

In our new kitchen, I suppose that I could use the pneumatic counter stools to sit higher than the 24" counter-stool height to get good leverage for chopping. I guess once produce comes in this year, I will get to try that out. Up till now, DH has been doing most of the cooking.

ironcook, major was history, minor French : ). But I've been told I read too much and have too many books. Though I don't write nearly as nicely as some on the board, including marcolo and johnliu...

Becky

If I'm going to sit I want to sit in a comfortable chair at a table. Part of the reason I put table height seating in my kitchen, even though it was with a virtual shoehorn.

plllog... that was smart thinking; what did you end up figuring out to do it?

nancy... pneumatic counter stools there's an idea!

Though I don't write nearly as nicely as some on the board, including marcolo and johnliu...

becky... i'm not so sure; i've been pretty floored by it in palimpsest's thread. funny, i keep trying to think of a literary heroine who leaves the big city, marries a frugal builder, and is limited (by geography) to the sears catalog; but the closest i can come up with is Ma from Little House on the Prairie! (yes, i should be/am embarrassed.)

Ironcook,

I have a sliding door which I wanted to keep. I couldn't get all the toys and lowers I wanted in the first acceptable plan that had a Walton's table, meaning there had to be an island. The answer was to put a fold down table on the back of the island with the seating in the aisle to the door. When the space is needed, the "table" can be emptied and disappear under a slight overhang of the soapstone island top.

It's bad feng shui (as in one can feel how not ideal it is) to have the seating there between two doors, but it works really well in the given space. There's just enough room for someone to get by when people are seated, or to open the pantry if someone scootches over. Room for two, really, could do four in a pinch, but really isn't suited for proper meals. Those are in the dining room. One person, alone with the TV, will often eat there. Three, never. Two hardly ever. But a good place for shucking peas. ;) And a place where my mother can sit comfortably in my kitchen and help out without feeling like she's in the way.

BTW, the brackets are standard hardware, and will take 200 pounds. It's a good solid table, even though it folds.

Well, that's more circumstance than literary quality. Though if I had to pick a literary heroine, it would be Betty Macdonald of "The Egg and I" and other gems.

I'm just glad I don't have to use the catalogue for toilet paper in an outhouse. Three cheers for indoor plumbing : ).

Becky

I love this post -- lots of laughs over morning coffee, plus a yummy fava bean recipe. I never sit to prep. Cooking is my only form of exercise and I do it fast with lots of kinetic energy. But, I just redrew my island plans to find room for two stools at the new kitchen/worktable island. My thinking: perhaps someday I'll have a grandson or granddaughter who will want to pull up a seat and help decorate cookies. Or, it might be a good place for my mom to sit while SHE shucks those beans. All part of the long-range planning for my "forever" kitchen I've learned from GW. Thanks!

Ironcook: I don't think I'd want a pull-out cutting board over a dishwasher. Wouldn't want a metal one either, unless it were simply used for extension of countertop and not direct chopping. Also, the pull-out would drive the dishwasher even closer to the floor--you don't want that.

But...do you have a space for a fold-down surface? That would work, even on a side of a non-overhang peninsula. Some time ago there was a posting for a 1940s-or-so efficient kitchen. Interestingly there was a spot or two for sit-down prepping in there--can't recall exactly but it was clever. It was designed under the spell of workplace efficiency and Lillian Galbreth's research if I recall correctly. (the mother in Cheaper by the Dozen)

In my old small 1976 kitchen there was a lot of stuff I don't want to replicate, but I designed it when I was in mid-twenties and it really did serve well for one cook. I had a large pull-out breadboard (baking and countertop extension only; no chopping of veg or meat or herbs there but okay to let produce lay on it) and only sat working there for decorating XMas cookies and such. I also had one standard pull-out cutting board between refrig and stove; I sat there a lot, even to cut up chicken and things, but had to wash at sink behind me. This was my favorite spot for working over chicken bones after boiling them for soup. A single person often ate at this little space also, after fold-down t.v. came into the room.

I sat at sink to deal with bulk garden produce most often--apples, tomatoes, etc. I can just picture myself back then, with a towel under my forearms resting on sink front because it was always wet at sink and I have a cold topmount enamel sink which makes the water colder. Sink was at immediate left of the corner of kitchen and right of corner the baking board began about 6 inches down. Picture a stool at corner. I used the big breadboard as a receiving space (pulled out halfway). I could lay out towels to airdry the fallen apples or salad makings or tomatoes and such and had both the full countertop above and about a foot of pull-out surface two inches below. It was my cockpit. Great for preparing apples for applesauce, cleaning up game birds for cooking, de-sanding and bad-spotting lettuces and salad makings (chop them on other side of aisle), scrubbing carrots, cleaning and cutting veg and plunking on dehydrator trays, you get the idea. I used a small portable cutting board and collanders if needed. Big problem is that I had to sit sideways because no spot for knees. Hard on back if you sit twisted too long. (This my be one reason to have a skirt under sink.)

Now, we have refrig/aisle/prep sink/plunkspace/cuttingboard/plunkspace/range in a really good sequence. There is plenty of counterspace all around the lowered cutting board and I can reach much of it without standing up. My posture is straight and I can kick off my infuriating orthopedic shoes. Knees are happy and feet are happy.

Francoise: I have dreams of having a grandchild to join me in this kitchen some day also. But can't be sure of this so I just try to put it out of mind. Sigh.

I do sometimes sit when I'm prepping... mostly because I'm on my feet all day at my job (baking) and when I get home I sometimes, especially at the end of the work week, can no longer stand. I sit at the table in my kitchen. I was thinking about looking for a stool that I could pull up to the counter so I can prep near the stove, sink and garbage.
:)

having a chair for the grand-children is essential when they are at that age.
in my case my great-niece (at my sisters home)

Forgive me, I couldn't resist
She is making Challah and kneading with a purpose!

From Making Chalah

Then she rolled some of it with great expertise and concentration

From Making Chalah

She was 2 years & 4 months when these were taken

Yes! My knees are bad in a way that allows me to climb steps or ride a bike until the cows come home, but makes walking slowly or standing still for any period of time very painful.

I use a 29' stool, with my legs angled so that I can get close enough to the counter. No, I do not look anything like as fetching at the person pictured above.

I have bad knees and feet, so I try to avoid standing for long periods. Chopping a few things for a recipe, I will do on my feet. I like to sit at the counter for anything that will take a while, like peeling large amounts of fruits and vegetables for baby food or mashed potatoes, removing stems from a container of strawberries, shredding cooked chicken for tortilla soup, etc.

muspic.

Adorable and glad to see an expert bread baker in the making.

~boxerpups

Oh, break my heart, little one!

hi everyone... sorry for getting back so late. thank you for your posts; great reading!

plllog... is your fold-down section also soapstone or did you use another material?

florantha... do you think the pull-out over the dishwasher is still bad if it's a single dishwasher drawer?

the "cockpit" of your old kitchen sounds like what my new kitchen could be with a pull-out over the dish drawer. i just thought of sitting down to prep too late.

a fold-down is a good idea, but i'd end up in the aisle or dining area, which is further from the sink than i'd like. maybe if i could figure out something that pivots and folds down, then there is the perfect space to tuck it between dishwasher and fridge; that sounds like an expensive deal, though.

muspic... well she is just too adorable! i bet she could teach me how to make challah!

Ironcook,

The problem with a pullout cuttingboard over a dishwasher is that the steam will make the board warp, and it'll make it expand and stick. Maybe a nylon cutting board with a wood front would work.

My

is made of out sunflower seed husk board, which is pretty light. I think, lighter than plywood. The brackets could hold soapstone, though I don't think it would be great when folded down (vertical). The husk board is heavy enough raising and lowering it. I wouldn't want to try with stone.

I sit down to make dumplings, because it is a long tedious task. Stand for everything else. Better leverage and I need the ''exercise''.

This sounds nutty, but suppose a section of counter were mounted on slides, so that it could be pulled out enough to allow stool seating?

I never sit. Stand for everything. Some days, like today, I stood in my kitchen for 8 hours. Now I am sitting, but I am no longer in the kitchen.

I am short (five foot nothing!), so sometimes use a step ladder to access a large stockpot on the stovetop. For example, dropping in meatballs (which can take a while when you are rolling 8 lbs of beef), or dumplings etc.

muspic, your great-niece is adorable!

beckysharp, so are you!

plllog... thanks SO much for posting the pic! how on earth did you think of sunflower seed husk board?! i love that.

i was thinking of a stainless pull-out for over the dish drawer, actually. but all that moisture probably would take it's toll, too. or just forgo the dishwasher all together and use that space for one's knees!

johnliu... not nutty at all! made me think of those tables with the hidden extension leaf. or, not at all what you were suggesting, but what about those hospital bed tables that slide back and forth... ew, or maybe not.

i always sit at the table to fold wonton. i can't even comprehend that one-handed form and drop into fryer motion. would you mind sharing your dumpling recipe (please)? :)

Interesting this topic came up. I am in the midst of a remodel right now and I had the kitchen designer include a place for sitting at counter-height in the kitchen. The kitchen designer initially designed a table in the kitchen (Since it would replace my table) but I thought that would look funky and had him put it at counter height instead to match the height of the other counters. Since I'm single, my idea was to use that counter-height seating area to eat meals and also do prep work and even do paperwork. I'm looking for a counter height stool and hopefully, I won't find that area to be uncomfortable. I have always liked to sit when preparing things and I don't have a problem moving everything to the counter before beginning work since this is always how I did things. Though it only makes sense that this method is slower than standing but that doesn't bother me.

Ironcook, I don't really have a specific dumpling recipe. Just the usual mixture of pork, shrimp, maybe Chinese sausage, green onions, ginger, garlic, rice wine, soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil, black vinegar, cornstarch. Sometimes carrot for color and texture. Plus cabbage or other veggies, if desired. I pulse each ingredient in the food processor until shredded or minced but definitely not paste, then combine.

I do have three tricks to mention, though.

First is, if unsure of the proportions, mix up the filling without the meat. Because you can safely taste that and adjust. Then add the raw meat. Of course, in the traditional Chinese way, I used to have no issue with tasting the raw pork. But I guess I've gotten soft, now I actually think about food safety. A little. (Actually I think that is a traditional liberty in most cultures. Did Julia Child bleat about ''cross-contamination''?)

Second is, dumplings dry out when steamed. Restaurants keep theirs juicy by adding fat or lard. I make a ''broth jello'' by dissolving unflavored gelatin in meat broth, or by making a broth with enough gelatin to set up (include bones with knuckle ends, cow tendons, pigs feet, and other parts with a lot of collagen aka connective tissue, and reduce for many hours, or use less water and pressure cook for 1-2 hours). Mix this with the rest of the filling and set it in the refrigerator, then use to make the dumplings. The gelatin melts during cooking. This isn't as important if you're going to boil the dumpling (wonton).

Third, if making open-topped dumplings (shao mai), top them with something bright and colorful. Red or yellow bell pepper, orange carrot, red beet, yellow squash, etc, plus something bright green like scallions. Cubed small or shredded. It is just for pretty.

I usually steam my dumplings, but pan-frying and deep-frying are nice changes. I don't usually boil unless making wonton soup.

Lately I am trying to figure out xiao long bao - so far, a humbling dish to make, the ''recipes'' online don't really work. I want to figure out steamed BBQ pork buns too, since SWMBO and daughter-san like these.

Sorry to hijack.

hi johnliu...

you're such a gentleman. it was i who requested the hijack!

i should have guessed that you don't work from a "recipe"! bet it's delicious.

thanks for the tips, though the second one i may not be brave enough to try. i have noticed that supermarket ground pork has become too lean over the years.

it's kind of silly for me to offer you a suggestion, but fwiw, i microwave my pork filling to check for taste.

you are going to cringe, but a friend of mine uses those refrigerator biscuits in a tube to steam for char siu bao! it's surprisingly good. (okay, maybe not for you.) i prefer the baked ones, which i've never attempted to make. now i want your bbq pork recipe! ;)

i'm definitely going to prettify shao mai if i ever attempt it again. thanks again. :)

You're all onto dumplings and I have to go google what fava beans are. All I can think about now is Silence of the Lambs.

I want a kneehole under my sink and cooktop like they used to have in the old days!

Here is a link that might be useful: cooktop kneehole @ retroren

lol @ remodelfla! unfortunately, that's always the first thing i think of in relation to fava beans. :(

fori...

that is really interesting. so they did that to be able to sit at the stove in 1957?

research queen, thanks : ).

And thanks to johnliu, I am now very hungry!

Becky

For char siu, I've made it a few times recently. You make plenty of marinade - plenty of recipes online, I linked one below. (I don't know what maltose is, and didn't miss it. Five-spice powder is easy to find in Asian markets. If in doubt, just add more honey and brown sugar.) Cut pork shoulder, or another fairly fatty cut, into manageable-sized pieces and marinate for a few hours to overnight. Then roast, basting with the marinade, until internal temp is 140F or whatever your comfort level requires. You want the outside to be very brown, even a touch charred. Meanwhile, reduce the excess marinade to a sauce, thicken further with cornstarch if you wish. Remove pork, rest, slice, sauce, and serve.

If you want the eye-pleasing and ''lucky'' red color, you can add 3-4 drops of red food coloring to the marinade. That's what restaurants do, to get the color. Or, if you want to be all ''natural'', boil or roast a red beet, then cut off the skin, puree about 1/3 of the beet in a food processor or blender (if the latter you may need to add some of the marinade), and mix with the marinade before marinating the pork. That small amount of beet will color the pork red without adding a beety taste. The beet juice will stain anything that is stainable, so you might not want to cut it up on your new marble counters.

This is not a BBQ process but works fine and is tasty. Char siu in restaurants varies a lot in tastiness. You can easily make char siu better than 3/4 of what you get in restaurants.

Here is a link that might be useful: A recipe

hi again, johnliu...

thanks for typing all your tips for char siu and for the link! i'm am SO ready to start cooking in the new kitchen. but it will be at least another month.

we use the recipe in The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen by Grace Young, with a few tweaks in proportions. i have to say it tastes little like what one gets in restaurants, but is absolutely delicious.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen at Amazon.com